Civil Penalties

A federal district court judge has ordered Royco Automobile Parts Inc. and its president to pay almost $1 million in civil penalties and compensation for violating the Federal Trade Commission Act. U.S. District Court Judge Howell W. Melton ordered Royco, which is based in Jacksonville Beach, and company president Robert W. Sowerby to pay $400,000 in civil penalties and $567,200 to franchise buyers. Melton ruled that Royco and Sowerby made false promises to prospective franchise owners in violation of the act.

Scores of Floridians have complained of price gouging to a state hotline after Tropical Storm Isaac prompted the state to declare a state of emergency on Saturday. As of Monday afternoon, 160 Floridians have reported what they consider the excessive raising of prices on essentials such as gasoline, lumber, food and ice, said John Lucas, spokesman for the Florida Attorney General's Office. Most complaints involve unnecessary hiking of gas prices. A Plantation woman complained of a Lauderhill raising prices 60 cents a gallon to $4.39 on Saturday.

State Attorney General Oliver Koppell called for stiffer civil penalties for violators of the state's civil rights laws and said he would also seek greater authority to conduct criminal prosecution in discrimination cases. He said he planned to introduce legislation this week to increase the civil penalties for violations of civil rights to $25,000. Currently many civil violations carry penalties of $500. ''Our laws have not kept up with the need to provide for a strong deterrent to discriminatory practices in our state,'' Koppell said Sunday at the annual conference of the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is suing Dish Network Corp., accusing the satellite television provider of violating telemarketing rules by calling millions of customers who had asked not to be contacted by the company. In a filing in an Illinois district court, the FTC alleges that since 2007 Dish has called millions of people in Illinois and other states to market its TV services, even after the consumers had asked the company not to contact them. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement on Thursday that it was "particularly disappointing when a well-established, nationally known company - which ought to know better - appears to have flagrantly and illegally made millions of invasive calls to Americans who specifically told DISH Network to leave them alone.

GUILTY PLEA. New York-based Loral Corp. pleaded guilty to three felony counts on Friday for its attempts to influence improperly the award of two defense contracts. The company admitted that it paid defense consultant William M. Galvin $578,000 to obtain confidential bid information about an Air Force advanced radar warning contract and a Navy contract to build a blimp. The company agreed to pay $5.77 million in fines, civil penalties and reimbursement for the cost of the investigation.

Synovus Securities Inc. said Tuesday it agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission $200,000 in civil penalties to settle charges that the brokerage violated municipal-securities trading regulations. Clark Reed, Synovus' retired president, agreed to pay a $50,000 civil penalty, it said. In an investigation that began in July 1991, the SEC found Reed executed municipal-securities deals for six customers through an unidentified individual instead of through the open market. The trades occurred between 1988 and 1991.

A task force of state agencies will investigate alleged criminal activity in the disposal of toxic and solid waste in Florida, The Tampa Tribune reported Saturday.''There's evidence to indicate, at least in other states, that traditional organized crime is involved,'' Robert Cummings, director of FDLE's Division of Criminal Investigatons, told the Tribune. ''That's the type of thing we will investigate.''''Participating in the investigation along with the FDLE will be James Russell, Pinellas-Pasco state attorney, and the state Department of Environmental Regulation.

Herbalife International Inc., the giant health and nutrition company, has agreed to an $850,000 out-of-court settlement with the California Attorney General's Office for civil penalties, attorneys' fees and investigation costs. Under a permanent injunction, Herbalife also agreed to 20 changes in the wording of product, weight-loss and financial claims, and to restrictions on testimonials made for its products.The company admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement.''The defendants do not admit any wrongdoing and specifically deny the allegations in the complaint,'' the state and Herbalife said in a statement.

The Senate agreed Wednesday to impose the death penalty on terrorists who kill Americans in the United States or abroad.''The thrust of this amendment would say that the death penalty ought to be available as an option to life imprisonment for this kind of horrendous killing, murders in the first degree,'' said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., writer of the provision.Another Senate-passed provision calls for criminal and civil penalties on foreigners who produce or transport biological and chemical weapons that produce deaths or injuries in Americans abroad.

Scores of Floridians have complained of price gouging to a state hotline after Tropical Storm Isaac prompted the state to declare a state of emergency on Saturday. As of Monday afternoon, 160 Floridians have reported what they consider the excessive raising of prices on essentials such as gasoline, lumber, food and ice, said John Lucas, spokesman for the Florida Attorney General's Office. Most complaints involve unnecessary hiking of gas prices. A Plantation woman complained of a Lauderhill raising prices 60 cents a gallon to $4.39 on Saturday.

State ethics officials have thrown out most of the charges brought against Deltona City Commissioner David Santiago last fall alleging he violated eight ethics laws. The Florida Commission on Ethics did, however, determine Friday that Santiago likely broke one rule by failing to correctly fill out his financial-disclosure statement. Santiago has said he made a mistake by not reporting his personal mortgages on the forms, which, as an elected leader, he is required to submit. He has called it an innocent oversight.

WASHINGTON -- A San Francisco company has agreed to an $885,000 fine for failing to report safety defects in a weed-trimmer attachment linked to more than a dozen injuries and the death of a 3-year-old girl, the government said. U.S. Home and Garden Inc. and a subsidiary will pay the civil penalty for allegedly not telling the government of problems associated with attachments to the Weed Wizard trimmer, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said. In a lawsuit filed in July, the government said the companies knew of a February 1998 internal report that found the product could cause serious injuries but continued to sell it for more than two years afterward.

In 1984, Florida passed a little-known law that allows stores to collect $200 in civil penalties from shoplifting suspects without going to court.Now, a North Carolina businessman is questioning whether the measure is encouraging overzealous and wrongful prosecution of people accused of shoplifting.Thomas Dorsett of Yadkinville, N.C., learned of the law last March when his 17-year-old daughter, Terri, was accused of stealing a $1.98 Mickey Mouse Sorcerer Pen from the Emporium gift shop at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

Synovus Securities Inc. said Tuesday it agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission $200,000 in civil penalties to settle charges that the brokerage violated municipal-securities trading regulations. Clark Reed, Synovus' retired president, agreed to pay a $50,000 civil penalty, it said. In an investigation that began in July 1991, the SEC found Reed executed municipal-securities deals for six customers through an unidentified individual instead of through the open market. The trades occurred between 1988 and 1991.

State Attorney General Oliver Koppell called for stiffer civil penalties for violators of the state's civil rights laws and said he would also seek greater authority to conduct criminal prosecution in discrimination cases. He said he planned to introduce legislation this week to increase the civil penalties for violations of civil rights to $25,000. Currently many civil violations carry penalties of $500. ''Our laws have not kept up with the need to provide for a strong deterrent to discriminatory practices in our state,'' Koppell said Sunday at the annual conference of the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators.

The Senate agreed Wednesday to impose the death penalty on terrorists who kill Americans in the United States or abroad.''The thrust of this amendment would say that the death penalty ought to be available as an option to life imprisonment for this kind of horrendous killing, murders in the first degree,'' said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., writer of the provision.Another Senate-passed provision calls for criminal and civil penalties on foreigners who produce or transport biological and chemical weapons that produce deaths or injuries in Americans abroad.

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed rules Wednesday that would require the inspection of 107,000 school buildings for cancer-causing asbestos and compel action to protect schoolchildren and employees.The new rules, proposed in response to legislation passed by Congress last October, are expected to cost the schools $3.2 billion over the next 30 years for cleanup and maintenance. The federal government is expected to help the schools in paying the costs.The environmental agency estimated that 33,000 of the school buildings to be inspected, involving 15 million children and 1.3 million administrators, teachers and other staff members, have crumbling asbestos that threatens the health of the occupants.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is suing Dish Network Corp., accusing the satellite television provider of violating telemarketing rules by calling millions of customers who had asked not to be contacted by the company. In a filing in an Illinois district court, the FTC alleges that since 2007 Dish has called millions of people in Illinois and other states to market its TV services, even after the consumers had asked the company not to contact them. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement on Thursday that it was "particularly disappointing when a well-established, nationally known company - which ought to know better - appears to have flagrantly and illegally made millions of invasive calls to Americans who specifically told DISH Network to leave them alone.

SEARS, ROEBUCK & Co. has agreed to pay a $100,000 civil penalty to settle a dispute with the government over insulation ads, the Federal Trade Commission said. The FTC said Sears or its representatives had failed to include details on the insulation's heat resistance when it promoted the thickness and price of the product. The ads ran within the past five years. Chicago-based Sears has agreed to create an advertisement designed to educate consumers about home insulation, especially the importance of having heat-resistance information when making a purchase, the FTC said.

GUILTY PLEA. New York-based Loral Corp. pleaded guilty to three felony counts on Friday for its attempts to influence improperly the award of two defense contracts. The company admitted that it paid defense consultant William M. Galvin $578,000 to obtain confidential bid information about an Air Force advanced radar warning contract and a Navy contract to build a blimp. The company agreed to pay $5.77 million in fines, civil penalties and reimbursement for the cost of the investigation.